The Genius Guide to Fire Magic (PFRPG) PDF

Fire is arguably the most dangerous and most useful of the elements. Fire represents the power of civilization, through cooking, forging, ceramics, and the production of light. It also represents the power of destruction in that it is a threat to farm, forest, and city alike. Fire is the first magic, and the power to rub sticks together to create a living heat that breathes and moves is the first shaman’s trick.

Sometimes fire is the preferred tool of evil, with dragons breathing it, demons living in it, and evil warlocks using it to burn out their enemies. In other stories it is the primary tool of good, used to burn out the dens of wickedness and sin where only evil lives, and illuminate the darkest corners of the world. These approaches speak to the dual nature of fire: It produces both light and smoke, it can forge or melt, and it cooks or chars. Fire is an invaluable tool, but it is also a dangerous weapon that can turn on its master.

Of course, fire magic certainly isn’t under-represented in the core rules of the game. Indeed one of the most iconic spells in the game’s entire history is fireball, and the acquisition of that spell is a milestone in most wizards’ careers. But the very fact that fire is so ubiquitous among spellcasters often means GMs and players alike are looking for new ways to burn, char, and ignite foes. In addition to providing more typical burning-globe fire spells, we also took the opportunity to look at fire-related magic dealing in molten glass, smoke, steam, and the potential self-imposed dangers of playing with fire.

Beyond burning - surprisingly clever!

I know what you're thinking: Do we need another fireball, another flaming sphere? No, we don't. That's why I was interested in this little pdf. While it would have been easy to cobble together a pdf full of bland damaging spells, this pdf goes beyond that by...well...providing damaging (AND non-damaging) spells that add interesting abilities and versatility to your pyromaniac urges: The very first spell, "Aleya" is a floating fire used to spot hidden items and creatures - iconic and cool: Just imagine the party's rogue trying to hide from these orbs...

The other spells herein, surprisingly also come with imaginative additional traits: The charcoal lash for example does ignore armor, but also might damage the caster. Are you an agent of the divine? Punish those heretics with the Brand of Shame - extra painful and permanent for those caught defiling your belief's tenets. Want to ignite those pesky undead? Why not make shambling Corpse Candles out of them?

One spell really excited me with its iconic simplicity: Explosive disarm damages your foe and if you manage to surpass your enemies' CMD with the damage, blow the item he holds from his hands.

A class of steam spells is also introduced - while steam does fire damage against most creatures, but being composed of water, also works against fire creatures as cold damage. Three new spells provide new kinds of walls and cinder field makes for another neat spell for terrain control.

The additional material provided is interesting as well: From the inquisitor's judgment that enables you to change your weapon into flame to the Oracle's new dragonfire mystery and 2 new Witches Hexes, APG-classes get some neat love. Especially the hex to manipulate pyres is a stroke of genius and roleplaying gold.

Additionally, we get a nice short, simple template for fiery creatures and 2 new feats: One feat infuses your flames with divine power and the other one lets you change your damaging spells to steam.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, while I did notice 2 minor typos, that's not enough to rate this pdf down. Layout adheres to the 3-column standard and the full color artworks are beautiful. The pdf has no bookmarks.

This Genius Guide pleasantly surprised me - I liked each of the spells, especially explosive disarm, and the APG-support is extensive and cool. The two metamagic feats are nice additions to one's game and the simple template is a neat addition as well. However, the dragonfire mystery, while interesting, felt a bit unfocused at times, representing my only minor gripe. With the glitches, though, this minor lapse from an otherwise absolutely stellar quality results in non quite making for a 5-star file. My final verdict will be 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

Spells (5 ½ pages)
There is a total of 14 new spells in this section.
Aleya – light source that seeks out hidden things.
Blister – dmg spell.
Brand of Shame – does damage and can be permanent giving them some social penalties.
Char Lash – create a fiery whip.
Cinder Field – turn the ground into hot goals basically.
Corpse Candle – make a undead burn
Explosive Disarm – make a held object explode into flame.
Flareburst – improved flare.
Power Word Burn – dmg spell.
Pyroclastic Burst – call down mini fireballs one a round sorta.
Steam Bolt – dmg spell.
Wall of... Glass, Smoke and Steam – new wall spells.

New Class Options (3 pages)
A replacement option for one of the inquisitors judgments, one new Oracle Mystery, Dragon Fire. Two new Witch Hexes, a fiery creature template, and two new metamagic feats.

It ends with a OGL and credits. (1 pages)

Closing thoughts. Layout and editing where both good, art is a mix of color and black and white. It is fair to good. The spells where mostly inventive and interesting, though there was a couple I had some disagreements on. Mostly the levels, such as Char Lash is level 1 for wiz, 2 for bard and inquisitor and 3 for witch. For a level 1 it is good, for a level 2 is solid, but I think it would be to weak for a 3rd level spell. Other than that I really don't have anything negative to say. So what's my rating? I am going to give this one a 4.5 review.